George Mackay says he does not think about the pressure (Photo: John Stillwell/PA Wire)

EXCLUSIVE: Up and coming actor George Mackay claims he isn’t under any pressure to follow in the footsteps of former Bafta rising star winners James McAvoy and Tom Hardy.

The Sunshine On Leith star says he feels nothing but excitement after being nominated for the award and is too busy honing his craft to worry about being the next big movie star.

‘I don’t know about pressure. I think that’s about how much you apply to yourself,’ he said. ‘I hope that it wouldn’t change the way I think about my work.

‘It’s exciting because you’ve got an awareness of the people who have come before you but I’m just going to try to stick to what I do and keep learning.’

But the 21-year-old isn’t naïve about what the award could do for his career. ‘Obviously it’d be wrong to say this award wouldn’t help with some sort of bigger picture – I mean you’d be lying if you said that,’ he told me at Bafta headquarters after the nominations were announced earlier this week.

‘You can just hope that something like this will help facilitate more opportunities. But at the same time if you start trying to chop and change things, you’d lose yourself in all those worries and expectations. If I can continue being involved thanks to this award then that’s wonderful.’

Mackay said he is more interested in working on as many different projects as he can rather than seek out the ‘perfect’ role.

‘What I’d like to do is try as many different ways of working as possible,’ he said. ‘That’s what I’m looking to do – collaborate with as many different directors.’

He is up against Dane DeHaan, Lupita Nyong’o, Will Poulter and Léa Seydoux at next month’s ceremony.

The EE Bafta rising star award is the only one to be decided by a public vote. Go www.ee.co.uk/bafta.

George Mackay (R) with two of his fellow nominees Lea Seydoux (C) and Will Poulter (L) (Photo: AP)